Tata Sky gets no feed from Sun TV

The Kalanidhi Maran-promoted Sun TV has yet again failed to comply with the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal’s directive to provide its channels to direct-to-home operator Tata Sky on an a la carte basis. The directive was issued on March 19 this year.

TDSAT had directed Sun TV to give its signals to Tata Sky on a la carte basis. However, the channel filed a review application before the tribunal contending that it had no channels to offer on a la carte basis and that it has a bouquet of only 20 channels.

Last week, Tata Sky approached TDSAT, after which Sun TV was ordered to provide feeds within three days. That deadline expired on April 6. Sun TV now faces TDSAT’s wrath at its next hearing, which could be a penalty and a possible ban on all platforms, including CAS and DTH.

Tata Sky has argued that Sun TV was simply stalling to gain time before the launch of its own DTH venture, Sun Direct, which is due in the first week of July. Sun begins its signal testing on April 12.